Catholic Charities Program Looks to Bounce Back After Roosevelt Fire

ST. CLOUD -- With the lost of Roosevelt School this past weekend, school staff wasn't the only group in mourning.

Catholic Charities employees were among those in mourning with the loss of the Roosevelt Early Childhood Center.

For years, District 742 has partnered with Catholic Charities Young Learners Program to provide special education and mental health services at the site.

The program was for children ages 3-6 who have significant mental health challenges.

Tim Lieser is the Catholic Charities Director of Residential and Day programming. He says to those staff and kids, this was their school.

The only wall left standing from the fire has a hand-painted tree on it called the "Calm Down Tree," which was the centerpiece of the program.

Before the program can begin again, Catholic Charities needs to get a few items.

Items include:
-Pre-school books
-Pre-school toys
-Pre-school games
-Classroom supplies (glue sticks, crayons, markers, etc)
-Craft items
-Cash Donations (visit CCStCloud.org to donate).

If you would like to donate any of these items, you can drop them off at the Catholic Charities Administrative Office at 911 18th St. N, St. Cloud between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.